Meet the midwifery panel

Our midwifery panel plays a hugely important role in giving us the straight-talking, high-level advice we need to make decisions that affect midwives and mothers right across the UK.

Established in November 2015, the panel meets four times a year and their discussions, debates and decisions are reported to our Council.

All of this work means that the voice of midwifery has a direct impact on the decisions we make.

Read the Midwifery Panel terms of reference to find out more about their purpose.

Previous meetings

Meet the members of the panel

The panel is made up of the Chief Nursing Officers from the four countries of the UK, representatives from our Council, the Royal College of Midwives and other leading midwifery figures.

Dr Anna van der Gaag CBE - Midwifery Panel Chair

Professor Charlotte McArdle - Chief Nursing Officer for Northern Ireland

Professor Ann Holmes - Chief Midwifery Advisor and Associate Chief Nursing Officer for the Scottish Government

Professor Jean White CBE - Chief Nursing Officer for Wales

Dr Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE - Chief Midwifery Officer, NHS England

Gill Walton - Chief Executive, Royal College of Midwives

Donna Ockenden - Senior Midwifery Adviser, NMC

Professor Mary Renfrew FRSE - University of Dundee

Cath Broderick - Lay member

Professor Janice Sigsworth - Director of Nursing at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Lord Willis of Knaresborough - Member of the House of Lords

Leigh Kendall FRSA - Maternity campaigner and communications expert

Logan Van Lessen RN, RM, BSc, MSc - Consultant Midwife (Public Health)

Nicky Clark - Chair of Lead Midwife for Education Strategic Reference Group

Sascha Wells-Munro - Maternity Improvement Advisor, NHS Improvement

Karen Jewell - Nursing Officer for Maternity and Early Years, Office of the CNO Wales

Jacqui Williams MA, BSc(Hons), RM ADM, Dip AppSS - Senior Midwifery Education Advisor, Nursing and Midwifery Council

Verena Wallace MBE - Senior Midwifery Adviser (Policy), Nursing and Midwifery Council

Maxine Spencer - Director of Midwifery, St Thomas' Hospital 

Professor Gwendolen Bradshaw - Emeritus Professor, University of Bradford

Dr Janet Hirst - Head of the School of Healthcare, University of Leeds

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